Ignore the puffery in the lede on the Telegraph's story on Alexey Mordashov, the boss of the Russian company Severstal, which Arcelor has agreed to buy in an effort to block Mittal Steel's hostile bid to take it over. The rest of the story has some useful information, although you have to translate it to understand exactly what it really means.
A boyish 40-year-old, Mr Mordashov emerged from Russia's era of primitive capital accumulation with a vast fortune and has gone on to build vital establishment credentials during the rule of President Vladimir Putin.
Translation: Mordashov is not an oligarch or a gangster because in Russia today those words mean someone who isn't a friend of Putin. Mordashov is a friend of Putin.
He has lobbied for Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organisation. His purchase of a stake in commercial channel REN TV last year amounted to a demonstration of loyalty towards a Kremlin which tightly controls the broadcast media.
Translation: Mordashov is Putin's boy.
Analysts said Mordashov would never have been able to pull off the Arcelor deal without first getting the nod from President Putin."It's about who you are and it's about what you've done," said Rob Edwards, metals analyst at Renaissance Capital. "He's always been politically well placed."
Translation: Mordashov is the guy behind Severstal. Putin is the guy behind Mordashov.
